Open Access

ARTICLE

Renewable Polymers: Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(4-ketopimelic acid-glycerol)

Ananda S. Amarasekara^*, Muhammad A. Hasan, Eve Larkin

Department of Chemistry, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas 77446, USA

* Corresponding author:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2017, 5(1), 62-66. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2016.634129

Abstract

Condensation polymerization of renewable resources-based monomers, 4-ketopimelic acid and glycerol, were studied using two different catalysts; p-toluenesulfonic acid and Sb2O3. The highest polymer yield of 96% was achieved by using a 3:4 mole ratio mixture of 4-ketopimelic acid and glycerol, with Sb2O3 (0.5 mol% relative to 4-ketopimelic acid) as catalyst and heating at 23–210 °C, under N2 for 1 h; then 210 °C, vacuum, 12 h. The poly(4-ketopimelic acid-glycerol) formed is insoluble in all common organic solvents and is shown to contain a branched polymeric structure with ketal and ester links by using FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy.

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